BCCI's probe panel 'illegal', says Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has said that the BCCI's two-member committee that investigated and subsequently cleared the owners of the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings IPL franchises was constituted illegally. The BCCI, it said, will have to investigate the matter afresh.

"The entire incident needs to be reinvestigated," the High Court said, according to PTI. "There was disparity in the evidence collected by the probe panel."

One of the petitioners, Naresh Mahtani, said the court's focus was on the formation of the inquiry committee and it clearly found that it was not set up according to the BCCI's constitution. "So whatever report has been passed over the last two days is technically null and void," Mahtani said.

His lawyer, Ameet Naik, said the petition - filed on June 21 by the Cricket Association of Bihar and its secretary, Aditya Verma - raised several issues of conflict of interest and the manner in which the probe panel was constituted. He said the BCCI's reply to the court was not able to explain how and whether the probe panel was set up in accordance with its own constitution. "The formation of the panel is not according to the [BCCI] constitution and therefore everything must follow from there," Naik said.

He said the petition had sought a fresh panel to be set up but clarified that the court had not granted that plea. The BCCI can appeal the court order once it receives the text of the High Court order. One of its options is appealing to the Supreme Court. The court has left it to the BCCI to set up a fresh probe panel, though it is not under any compulsion to do so.*

The court's findings - delivered by a bench comprising justices SJ Vazifdar and MS Sonak - come two days after the committee submitted its report, which essentially cleared Super Kings owner India Cements, Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and Royals parent company Jaipur IPL Pvt Ltd of "wrongdoing". "There is no evidence of any wrongdoing found by the judges against Raj Kundra, India Cements and Rajasthan Royals," Niranjan Shah, a BCCI vice-president, had said after the BCCI's working committee meeting in Kolkata. The final decision on the matter was supposed to have been taken at the IPL's governing council meeting on August 2.

Concerns about the panel were raised soon after its constitution on May 28, and have remained since given the BCCI's inconsistent explanations and statements. On May 26, at a press conference in Kolkata hours before the IPL final, Srinivasan had said that the probe panel would look into allegations against his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, a top Super Kings official, as well as the Rajasthan Royals players accused of spot-fixing, and would comprise an independent member and two out of a group of five people: the then-BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale, the then-treasurer Ajay Shirke, the then-IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, BCCI vice-president and IPL governing council member Arun Jaitley, and IPL governing council member Ravi Shastri.

On May 28, the BCCI issued a press release which stated that the IPL governing council had appointed the panel consisting of two retired judges from Tamil Nadu, T Jayaram Chouta and R Balasubramanian, and Jagdale. It was learnt that that of the eight-man IPL governing council, two members had no idea about when and how the panel had been constituted while two other members had given their consent over the phone. Former BCCI chief IS Bindra had then claimed that the panel had been appointed by an "operations" committee which did not consist of a single governing council member, but two members of the IPL's logistics team, an official of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association who was the lawyer that accompanied Gurunath to Mumbai when he was summoned by the police, and a BCCI official.

When Jagdale resigned his post he was not replaced on the panel, the three members being reduced to two.

* - 0400 GMT, July 31, 2013 - The story was updated to mention the BCCI's appeal options

For your informationh the two member probe commission, comprising T.
Jayaram Chouta, a former judge of Karnataka high court, and Justice R.Balasubramania a former judge of chennai high court. But everybody saying these two judges are from chennai.

dummy4fb
on July 31, 2013, 3:56 GMT

IUt's time for BCCI to look closely at the IPL. Too many allegations. The did not recognise ICL which could have been more tranparent and clean. Think again BCCI. Give cricket what it dserves.

Biggus
on July 30, 2013, 14:28 GMT

@Dark_Harlequin:-I believe an antynonym is one of those really big Russian transport planes.

Sheela
on July 30, 2013, 14:20 GMT

Sports bodies like BCCI do not have the persons trained in investigation. Judges appointed to committee depend on the existing facts/records and they do not investigate. Previous occasion when match fixing was investigated by BCCI it was given to a CBI personnel who knew about investigations.

sweetspot
on July 30, 2013, 13:31 GMT

This RTI business is getting out of hand in terms of perception.

Nobody owes anybody the truth under RTI. You can only ask for records to be produced. If you ask under RTI, "Did you fix matches?", nobody is answerable. You can ask for evidence, records of events, and such to be shared, but it won't do any good in an investigation of how some business was conducted other than official business.

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 12:18 GMT

@Pradeep,

There is a FIR lodged for the betting/fixing thing.. Courts become automatically involved..

High time BCCI is brought to book..

reality_check
on July 30, 2013, 11:50 GMT

When you ask any suspect to investigate himself, you will get not guilty verdict 100% of the time. This is why an independent body should investigate this matter.

Smithie
on July 30, 2013, 11:48 GMT

No doubt Cricinfo readers would be very interested to hear the position of Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble, Gavaskar and Shastri on this thread of events. In the interests of good investigative journalism when can expect some such material on the topic?

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 11:48 GMT

Well it is like watching live cricket match, let us see who is the winner.

espncricinfomobile
on July 30, 2013, 11:47 GMT

@Pradeep, you think High Court need rights to say something.

ODI_BestFormOfCricket
on July 31, 2013, 10:25 GMT

For your informationh the two member probe commission, comprising T.
Jayaram Chouta, a former judge of Karnataka high court, and Justice R.Balasubramania a former judge of chennai high court. But everybody saying these two judges are from chennai.

dummy4fb
on July 31, 2013, 3:56 GMT

IUt's time for BCCI to look closely at the IPL. Too many allegations. The did not recognise ICL which could have been more tranparent and clean. Think again BCCI. Give cricket what it dserves.

Biggus
on July 30, 2013, 14:28 GMT

@Dark_Harlequin:-I believe an antynonym is one of those really big Russian transport planes.

Sheela
on July 30, 2013, 14:20 GMT

Sports bodies like BCCI do not have the persons trained in investigation. Judges appointed to committee depend on the existing facts/records and they do not investigate. Previous occasion when match fixing was investigated by BCCI it was given to a CBI personnel who knew about investigations.

sweetspot
on July 30, 2013, 13:31 GMT

This RTI business is getting out of hand in terms of perception.

Nobody owes anybody the truth under RTI. You can only ask for records to be produced. If you ask under RTI, "Did you fix matches?", nobody is answerable. You can ask for evidence, records of events, and such to be shared, but it won't do any good in an investigation of how some business was conducted other than official business.

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 12:18 GMT

@Pradeep,

There is a FIR lodged for the betting/fixing thing.. Courts become automatically involved..

High time BCCI is brought to book..

reality_check
on July 30, 2013, 11:50 GMT

When you ask any suspect to investigate himself, you will get not guilty verdict 100% of the time. This is why an independent body should investigate this matter.

Smithie
on July 30, 2013, 11:48 GMT

No doubt Cricinfo readers would be very interested to hear the position of Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble, Gavaskar and Shastri on this thread of events. In the interests of good investigative journalism when can expect some such material on the topic?

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 11:48 GMT

Well it is like watching live cricket match, let us see who is the winner.

espncricinfomobile
on July 30, 2013, 11:47 GMT

@Pradeep, you think High Court need rights to say something.

Harlequin.
on July 30, 2013, 11:34 GMT

@biggus - no

@romain - yes

@nutcutlet - what's an antynonym? ;)

@pradeep - surely because it's an investigation into illegal activity?

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 11:06 GMT

I stil dont get why or from where bombay high court gets the right to say this?

Surajrises
on July 30, 2013, 9:45 GMT

If wrong people get away with this, then I hope International Cricketers stop participating in IPL and then let Indians only play this league...

Gurram
on July 30, 2013, 8:36 GMT

Certainly someone is guilty, otherwise no court on earth denies a panel's recommendations.

bonaku
on July 30, 2013, 8:32 GMT

It is about time to have RTI imposed on BCCI. It will bring a great things to future indian cricket.

ooper_cut
on July 30, 2013, 8:30 GMT

Balle Balle once again. The action never stops, will carry on till the next edition and then something else will be there. IPL is the winner here.

vaibhavsharma100
on July 30, 2013, 8:25 GMT

@11_Warrior....:)...I can well imagine the plight of bcci and d likes of srinivason if bcci comes under the ambit of rti.......Neway, the probe panel by bcci was nothing morethan a farce and it was rightly ruled out by Bombay HC.

I wish someone could convey to bcci that by doing all these farces, they are gonna lose credibility in front of indian public and lose their own market which will be a bad thing for cricket.

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 8:12 GMT

RTI is the only thing that the BCCI must accept to.. Anti-doping is just government arm twisting..

Nutcutlet
on July 30, 2013, 8:12 GMT

The BCCI is like an old onion with several layers of dead skin. To get to the heart of the matter, the dead skins need to be peeled away. Obfuscation is what the BCCI is all about (it's one subject on which they are truly expert) - there are many layers of it. It's good to read that the Bombay High Court has decided to peel the onion & I hope the judiciary there finds a retrievable vegetable at its core, eventually. Otherwise, it will have to be thrown away. I wish them efficient peeling! (BTW, the antyonym of obfuscation is transparency.)

ramli
on July 30, 2013, 8:07 GMT

What a waste of time ... BCCI will once again clear the names of everyone involved within months ... police probe will go on and on, owing to political pressures with no end result in the near future ... what a waste of time

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 8:04 GMT

Isn't there something truly laughable and machiavellian about a two-man panel in such a high profile investigation?

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 7:56 GMT

HI time that BCCI is brought under the RTI act... so much goes behind the scenes in this ill-managed dictators dominated organisation which should be answerable to people it earns the money from..

11_Warrior
on July 30, 2013, 7:48 GMT

Come under RTI and rest will be taken care of!!

Kitschiguy
on July 30, 2013, 7:44 GMT

There was "disparity in the evidence"? Surely not. I don't believe it. Corruption in Indian cricket? Whatever next?

Biggus
on July 30, 2013, 7:31 GMT

Is anyone suprised at all at this news?

Sheela
on July 30, 2013, 14:20 GMT

Sports bodies like BCCI do not have the persons trained in investigation. Judges appointed to committee depend on the existing facts/records and they do not investigate. Previous occasion when match fixing was investigated by BCCI it was given to a CBI personnel who knew about investigations.

Biggus
on July 30, 2013, 7:31 GMT

Is anyone suprised at all at this news?

Kitschiguy
on July 30, 2013, 7:44 GMT

There was "disparity in the evidence"? Surely not. I don't believe it. Corruption in Indian cricket? Whatever next?

11_Warrior
on July 30, 2013, 7:48 GMT

Come under RTI and rest will be taken care of!!

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 7:56 GMT

HI time that BCCI is brought under the RTI act... so much goes behind the scenes in this ill-managed dictators dominated organisation which should be answerable to people it earns the money from..

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 8:04 GMT

Isn't there something truly laughable and machiavellian about a two-man panel in such a high profile investigation?

ramli
on July 30, 2013, 8:07 GMT

What a waste of time ... BCCI will once again clear the names of everyone involved within months ... police probe will go on and on, owing to political pressures with no end result in the near future ... what a waste of time

Nutcutlet
on July 30, 2013, 8:12 GMT

The BCCI is like an old onion with several layers of dead skin. To get to the heart of the matter, the dead skins need to be peeled away. Obfuscation is what the BCCI is all about (it's one subject on which they are truly expert) - there are many layers of it. It's good to read that the Bombay High Court has decided to peel the onion & I hope the judiciary there finds a retrievable vegetable at its core, eventually. Otherwise, it will have to be thrown away. I wish them efficient peeling! (BTW, the antyonym of obfuscation is transparency.)

dummy4fb
on July 30, 2013, 8:12 GMT

RTI is the only thing that the BCCI must accept to.. Anti-doping is just government arm twisting..

vaibhavsharma100
on July 30, 2013, 8:25 GMT

@11_Warrior....:)...I can well imagine the plight of bcci and d likes of srinivason if bcci comes under the ambit of rti.......Neway, the probe panel by bcci was nothing morethan a farce and it was rightly ruled out by Bombay HC.

I wish someone could convey to bcci that by doing all these farces, they are gonna lose credibility in front of indian public and lose their own market which will be a bad thing for cricket.

ooper_cut
on July 30, 2013, 8:30 GMT

Balle Balle once again. The action never stops, will carry on till the next edition and then something else will be there. IPL is the winner here.